I played in the Las Vegas World Amateur, a flighted net stroke play tournament event, held this year at the Paiute Golf Resort in Las Vegas on Monday-Wednesday, Feb 27-28/Mar 1, 2017. We played one round at all three of the courses here - the flight leaders after the first 3 rounds played a championship round at Wolf on Thursday (3/2). I played in this event two years ago at some decidedly lesser courses, with disappointing prizes, so I skipped it last year (and heard bad reports). When I heard that this year’s event would be at Paiute, where all the courses are always in great condition, I decided to give the tourney another chance. Also, a special and notable prize was a week-long golf trip to Ireland to some very nice courses. Two of these were given away by drawing during the week.

(In 2015 we played Stallion Mountain GC [a glorified muni] and Desert Pines GC [in good shape, but really …]. I did enjoy playing Reflection Bay GC for the first time, and seeing how well it had come out of being dead for 5+ years! And the finals were at Bali Hai GC, which was challenging. Prizes in 2015 were mainly gift cards from ClubGlove – if you didn’t need a bag cover or travel gear, you were SOL, as they don’t offer golf equipment or clothing. I wound up using my gift card prize to get a dozen golf gloves and a green repair tool! Yippee!)

I’ve never had a bad experience at Paiute over the 20 years I’ve played up here, but this event was trying due to the constant and punishing wind we encountered. One Day 1 (Sun Mountain) we were lulled into confidence following our 10am shotgun start when a light northerly breeze slowly faded to almost no wind. But by hole 6 we were getting southeast winds of 10-15 mph, which slowly increased to 20-30 mph by hole 8 and over the rest of the round. With the cloud cover we had there was a significant wind chill factor – we all put on our rain jackets to keep the cutting wind off us. There were actually a couple of gusts that came along where we had trouble just standing still. Any ball on any green was vibrating as it sat on the turf, subject to starting rolling, so players were forced to line up and hit their putts quickly.

On Tuesday (Wolf) the wind shifted to the NW and scores rose. While we had sunshine today, that 10-15 mph wind kept things a little chilly, and the more slopy Wolf Course took its toll on scores. At Snow Mountain on Wednesday the wind continued from the north again, although at less speed, and it continued to drop during the round – after 2½ days, I finally got a little too warm on the back nine Wednesday(!). That was the day that Mark (GKer itslikeimsayin) was playing Sun Mountain, unrelated to our tournament (see his separate review). The highlight of Wednesday was a pair of USAF A-10 Warthog tank killers roaring up the valley east of the course, about 200 feet off the ground.

The last day (Thursday) at Wolf we had Chamber of Commerce weather – mid-60s, clear, with only light north breezes; on the back 9 the breeze shifted from the south.

Course Conditions

All three of the courses were in similar fine shape. Greens were very firm, and rolled perfectly at medium-fast speed, with speed increasing somewhat as the sun and wind dried them further – you couldn’t really make a ballmark, and I think I repaired 2 or 3 old ballmarks during any of the rounds. Green speeds were consistent throughout the round, which was great, and getting the speed correct on these greens is the key to managing your round and score. Most of the greens are slightly crowned, and many are elevated above the fairways and surrounds, exposing them more to the wind and challenging players to hold greens and control their putts. We saw a few more ballmarks on Wolf on Day 4 – some of the greens had softer areas (were they watered?). The greens were still firm, although green speeds were fast on day 4.

We had good lies in all the fairways; most of the old divots had been filled, either by players or staff. Rough was generally cut low and very playable, but further offline you are in the desert and lies are very chancy. Sand was deep and soft around the greens; balls could easily create their own depression, making recovery more difficult. Tee boxes were all level, but on Sun Mountain tees were small and set up very narrow – however, even par-3 tees were in good condition.

We saw the cart girl several times each day and enough water was available on all courses, as well as having snack shacks at the turn.

General Comments on the Golf Resort

The maintenance guys know how to move and/or wait around golfers - they were very aware of what was going on and were generally unobtrusive. But the cart girls need training – they were consistently driving into groups hitting, driving up to the green as players were putting, and meeting groups in the wrong locations. On Thursday, we saw one maintenance guy hand-raking(!) the walking paths on Wolf to remove the larger rocks that get knocked onto the paths. Gotta take care of those walkers! We also saw some hand watering of fairways on several holes in the early afternoon on Wednesday.

Throughout the week there were many sightings of F-18s heading NW, probably to Area 51; we saw groups of 2 to 6 fighters. A few scattered roadrunners, lots of ducks on the lake on #18 Snow Mountain, and about 2 dozen quail hiding under bushes around #13 tee on Snow Mountain on Wednesday.

The fairly simple GPS unit provided in all carts was pretty useless except for landmarks off the tee. Once you got out in the fairways it wasn’t interactive and tended to give distances to bunkers 30 yards away. Distance to front/middle/back of the green were provided. The resort uses a 6-area pin placement rotation.

Unfortunately, with the shotgun format, the staggered flights of men and women players from the 20s to 70s, and the challenge of the weather and the Paiute courses, POP each day was around 6 hours, leaving everyone exhausted at the end of the day.

But if this thing is held at Paiute again next year, I may come back!

[[Edited by dconnally on Tuesday March 7, 2017 4:19 PM]]

[[Edited by dconnally on Wednesday March 8, 2017 10:26 PM]]

Remember, we could be at work!!

Message #82704

golferic420

RE: Las Vegas World Amateur Tournament at Paiute - 2/28-3/2/17

Member Since: July 25, 2016

Favorite Golfer: LeftyFavorite Golf Course: Las Vegas Paiute

Tuesday March 7, 2017 5:18 PM

I saw on the LVWA website that you finished 5th in your flight and eighth overall!! Not too shabby!!
I am playing the Sun course next Monday, the 13th. Very excited, as I haven't been there in a while. When I was in college at UNLV, I played there at least twice a month. Great local rates when you have a Nevada ID.

Message #82708 - This was a reply to message #82704

weber2323

RE: Las Vegas World Amateur Tournament at Paiute - 2/28-3/2/17

SoCal Community Staff

Member Since: April 2, 2006

Favorite Golfer: David DuvalFavorite Golf Course: La Jolla Country Club

Tuesday March 7, 2017 7:48 PM

With dcon's ball flight wind is never an issue. Not surprised he scored well there, nice job David.

Message #82710 - This was a reply to message #82704

Itslikeimsayin

RE: Las Vegas World Amateur Tournament at Paiute - 2/28-3/2/17

Member Since: July 21, 2003

Favorite Golfer: Phil MickelsonFavorite Golf Course: DragonRidge CC

Tuesday March 7, 2017 10:25 PM

I saw the signs for this tourney in the clubhouse after I finished but had no idea you were there. That would've been fun to run into you. Nice recap and nice playing!

QUOTED

The highlight of Wednesday was a pair of USAF A-10 Warthog tank killers roaring up the valley east of the course, about 200 feet off the ground.

I saw one of these just as I was about to descend into the Sun Mountain greenside bunker on No. 4. From my vantage point, it looked like it nearly scraped the top of my cart parked across the green. Couldn't believe how low it was! Awesome!

Message #82714 - This was a reply to message #82704

golferic420

RE: Las Vegas World Amateur Tournament at Paiute - 2/28-3/2/17

Member Since: July 25, 2016

Favorite Golfer: LeftyFavorite Golf Course: Las Vegas Paiute

Wednesday March 8, 2017 9:35 AM

Pretty sure it was for the "Red Flag" events they hold at Nellis AFB. I think it's twice a year, and ya, they plow through the desert in tanks, and fly low and fast up to the Creech base in Indian Springs (another 20 miles up the 95N from the Paiute).
It's a nice distraction from the serene beauty out there; and stuff that you wouldn't see at many other courses, haha!